Even more than three decades after Linda Witt missed her chance to compete in the Olympics, she still struggles to understand the politics that buried her dream.

"It really resonated as 'Why on earth would we do this?'" Witt said. "'This makes no sense.' "

One athlete with roots in Weld County competed in the Olympics almost a century ago. Still, Witt, 60, came closer than any other modern athlete with ties to Weld to competing in the Olympics. As the games in Rio De Janeiro come to a close today, The Tribune takes a look at local athletes who have come close to representing their country, and what it will take to see another Olympian from Weld.

Witt played women's field hockey for the University of Northern Colorado and graduated in 1978. She put in endless hours of training to refine her substantial skill.

“It was devastating.

— Linda Witt, 1980 Olympic field hockey team member

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She experienced the triumphs and hardships needed to produce the necessary level of mental toughness. She made sacrifices but never allowed her unconditional commitment to waver.

She was in the United States Olympic Development Program and was on deck to compete in the 1980s Olympics in Moscow. Yet, for reasons beyond her control, she had to sit out the Olympics.

The United States boycotted the Olympics in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which had begun several months earlier in 1979.

"It was devastating," she said. "And the coaching staff really agonized with us, too, because they were colleagues in our development."

Witt never received another opportunity to compete in the games. She was just 24 years old and in her athletic prime during the 1980 games.

"When we boycotted the games, everything got put into limbo," said Witt, 60. "Then, in 80-81, the U.S. Field Hockey Association looked at the group who would have gone to Moscow, and they had all those gals willing to put in another four years. … But, (the association) basically had their team already set. So a whole generation of us was cut in the summer of '82. They cut college All-Americans."

Heading into the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, the association went with a group largely composed of new faces — youngsters, many of whom were just removed from their teen years. That group won bronze, receiving the opportunity to earn the Olympic hardware Witt and her teammates were denied four years earlier.

Witt's story illustrates just how many factors must fall into place for standout athletes to elevate themselves to the level of Olympians.

So many things must go right. All it takes is for one thing to go wrong and an athlete ends up on the outside looking in during the games.

Witt is one of many Weld athletes who have been on the cusp of competing for a medal in front of a worldwide audience.

Others have qualified for Olympic Trials and made it onto national teams, only to have those last couple steps to an Olympic stadium elude them.